I could not flourish in the Hollywood system because the first thing spoken about is What genre is it? and Who's it for? It's a very strange question to me it's for human beings.

Im living as an artist, and thats a staggering feeling, its a total luxury. And because you have this amazing chance, with so much freedom, Im determined to make something that is worth that. I feel this responsibility - to create something that makes an audience feel, which takes them somewhere. But thats very hard to achieve.

If I wasn't plagued by needing to write things, that would perhaps be a blessing.

I just want the actors to put their faith in the language. Just let the words do the work.

I think Catholicism took root very quickly in Ireland because it's a very superstitious religion, the holy ghost, the holy spirit, it has a goddess, very visual, the music.

I started directing out of necessity, the first play I wrote in college because I didn't know anyone who could direct it.

We're all ordinary in a way. We can all be hurt. We can all be unbalanced. We all have feelings. Life can treat us harshly, even shockingly sometimes.

We know so little of the why, what the universe is, what infinity is. The veil around us is very fragile.

I have a theory about Ireland, being at the edge of Europe. For 1,000 years, people didnt know what was beyond. But we thought about it - a lot. And that beyond became internalized in our psyche.

I love stories that frame that: This is what life is about - you don't have a clue.

It's probably the last thing you think about when you're making a film is other people's problems. You're thinking about your problem, which is making the movie. But you do have a responsibility. You can't mess around with people's emotions.